Book 2 - Text Updates 009

In every reign there comes one night of greatest blackness, when a King must send away his court of flatterers and servants, and sit alone in the dark with the beast called truth.

In the gloom of the grand hall, Slately could hear it breathe.

Truth at court was treated as if it were a precious commodity. It was hoarded, coveted, bartered for. Certainly this analogy applied to lies; his courtiers accepted his lies as currency of the realm. He handed them lies in large denominations, and they returned him his change in small ones.

Oh, but truth was something different. Something alive and immortal. By light of day it was only a little butterfly: pretty, elusive, easily crushed and utterly unable to defend itself. Most nights, too, it slept harmlessly. One could wave it away for a very long time.

But on the nights it did not sleep, neither did the King.

Slately slumped in his throne, his fists crossed over his chest beneath his ermine cape. Statues of fallen Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses stared down at him from the eaves. They were his only companions. They, and the truth beast, and an empty bottle of his best brandy. All were cold comfort.

Here came this beast to his city walls, to his chamber door. Here returned the Arkenpliers to the city which had so long kept them truly and well.

Why, Titans? This cannot truly be your will. Test our worth, if you must. But we shall rise to it, I so swear!

When he had allowed his son to take the Arkenpliers into battle, he had hoped the Prince would prove his mettle, that the Titans would allow Ansom to master their artifact. He did not expect this result, this opposite, this truth.

This was the truth that had destroyed poor Bea. It would crash down upon his city, and if the city did not stand, then the whole world would likely end.

And yet, try telling that to these cretins on other thrones. These Royals In Name Only.

He knew what Dickie meant to do. Haggar had surely sent her armies not as rescuers, but as scavengers. He knew it, but he did not fear. Why give a care for a horsefly, when the horse is charging?

And Don. Don was never a model Royal at the best of times: ever so mercenary, ever so informal. He had given up on even having a Royal line of succession for an inexcusably long time.

Well, at least he had finally relented on that. After Gobwin Knob and many, many talks, Don was at last coming around to a proper view of things. Slately could only hope it was not too late.

And yet, what did Don King send to Slately's aid? A handful of spy bats, and this...woman.

Oh, she was a Queen. That he could not deny. But she was surely the worst that ever lived. She was every bit the Barbarian who had knelt before his throne and stammered out her ignorance. Revolting.

But.

A Queen. And she might prove useful. He simply refused to place his hopes upon her.

No, his hopes as always lay with his sons. Proud Ossomer would stand tomorrow at the bridge, with clever, flighty Tramennis beside him. They would hold back that Demon thing shaped like his lost Ansom, at least long enough for the King to shame old Dickie into joining the fray. This fight could be won. This truth had not yet sent him to the Hall of the Mountain King for judgment.

"Do you hear me, beast?" he blurted. His brandy-muddled words echoed around the columns and statues, and rained back down upon him from the vaulted ceiling. "We could win!"

Stanley would have won the air figth, because there wouldn't be so much archons.

first, Ansom was confident that the RCC could win the battle in the air even before they considered hiring charlie... Air units aren't the only units that can attack dwagons as we also have to take into account all of the anti-air infantry
Second, your saying that in the face of over 2 dozen dwagons, Ansom would not call charlie to bring in additional aerial reinforcements? unlikely

Ansom didn't hire Charley when Stanley still had 50+ dwagons. He hired Jillian for that. Also don't forget that Charley had two turns time to concentrate 30 archons near Gobwin Knob. Something he probably wouldnÃt have done if he developed an interest in parson and his bracers.

theseus2x wrote:

I have to admit; that always seemed odd to me. Ansom intended to have Jillian, Jillian's Gwiffons, the Orlys, Vinny and the Doombats as his only air-to-air combat force. Yes, they would have been supported by Archers (Gumps = no; they wouldn't be in trees, they'd be over the city.) but really, that seems very weak to me. Stanley still had a large (50+?) Dwagon contingent at the time.

Stanley had strong air forces, but was weak on infantry. Ansom intended to take the city by ground. A faint in the tunnels to draw the troops there, then attacking the walls. Because they weren't deep forests or a lake the infantry could have fought back if they were attacked by the dwagons. That, together with the archers and Jillians air troops probably would have kept the dwagons long enough at bay to take the garrison. At least that's what I think.

By coincidence, that happened to be exactly the right direction to lead the force.

Which could not have been the direction any other flying forces leader could have led from. Jillian had the (perhaps dubious) adantage of being sourced from nearby GK. No other leader could have accomplished as much.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. You guys are listing presumptions as fact. The story didn't cover where Jillian's forces would have been if Jillian hadn't returned to them, nor who else could have led them, nor what other flying forces would have been available to scout, nor what path they would have taken.

If you guys want to stick with 'the dwagons never would have been found if Jillian hadn't been there' be my guest, but there's no proof to your argument. There's no proof they WOULD have been found if she hadn't been there either. But if you're going to make the statement that they never would have been found without Jillian, then I'm going to call it what it is - an opinion. Don't state it as fact.

Secondly, it's possible for time to transpire between panels. We don't know how much scouting Jillian did prior to making the decision to return to Ansom.

Lastly, there was definitely a certain range of area that any proficient scout would know needed to be scouted to perform Ansom's request. The RCC forces knew how far the dwagons could fly, how much move they had used up to get to the siege stacks, and how much move they would have had left after that.

If you guys want to stick with 'the dwagons never would have been found if Jillian hadn't been there' be my guest, but there's no proof to your argument. There's no proof they WOULD have been found if she hadn't been there either. But if you're going to make the statement that they never would have been found without Jillian, then I'm going to call it what it is - an opinion. Don't state it as fact.

Its not a totally unfair assumption. Look :

1) Parson didn't think the Dwagons would be found at all on that turn.
2) Parson had an "aw fuck - Jillian's out there" moment. One of his few mistakes was banking too much on Wanda's assurances.
3) Jillian's decision to dump Webinar and run off with the Archons may have been somewhat predictable from our perspective, but it must have seemed a "chaotic/random" event to Parson.
4) The flying group with Webinar, the Gwiffons and the Archons was never supposed to go in the direction of the lake. They were supposed to guard the siege. Going over the lake only happened because of Jillian.
5) As we've pointed out, the RCC had VERY few flyers. Jillian and the Archons were pretty much the only force around with the move both to find them AND engage them. (Ansom and Vinny did, too. But remember they didn't know they were there.)
6) Aside from one of Vinny's bats, who else in the RCC could have found them on that turn?
7) Vinny didn't seem to be sending his bats to the lake to check. In fact, according to Parson, the RCC didn't even know the lake was there.

and finally :

8) Someone might say "well, they could find them on the following turn or later" - no. Parson wasn't leaving them there. He was going to have them either croak Ansom or smash the siege.

So yes - I think its a safe assumption that if Jillian hadn't been involved, the stack wouldn't have been found.

Stanley had strong air forces, but was weak on infantry. Ansom intended to take the city by ground. A faint in the tunnels to draw the troops there, then attacking the walls. Because they weren't deep forests or a lake the infantry could have fought back if they were attacked by the dwagons. That, together with the archers and Jillians air troops probably would have kept the dwagons long enough at bay to take the garrison. At least that's what I think.

I don't know - can Infantry normally engage Dwagons if they aren't Archers?

So yes - I think its a safe assumption that if Jillian hadn't been involved, the stack wouldn't have been found.

That's fine. I don't agree. The RCC would have had Jillian's forces without Jillian. They had Archons. They could have hired more Archons. They had bats. They could have gotten the job done with or without Jillian.

So yes - I think its a safe assumption that if Jillian hadn't been involved, the stack wouldn't have been found.

That's fine. I don't agree. The RCC would have had Jillian's forces without Jillian. They had Archons. They could have hired more Archons. They had bats. They could have gotten the job done with or without Jillian.

I don't disagree with that.

BUT : If Jillian hadn't been there, the Archons, Jillian's group, etc. would have been with Webinar. They wouldn't have gone near the lake. They would have stayed near the Siege columns.

Vinny had bats, yes. But Vinny wasn't randomly sending them out, looking for that stack. Vinny was giving Ansom "The Flight" and "The Stand" plans. Yes, he had sent one to the hex they thought they were in, Ansom decided it was Foolamancy, and they charged in. There was no sign whatsoever they were even considering sending more bats. They didn't know about the lake. It was a non-issue.

And as for more Archons : I really doubt that. If hiring more Archons was easy and viable, Vinny would have had a Plan C : "Hire more Archons - enough to protect our stack."

So yes - I think its a safe assumption that if Jillian hadn't been involved, the stack wouldn't have been found.

That's fine. I don't agree. The RCC would have had Jillian's forces without Jillian. They had Archons. They could have hired more Archons. They had bats. They could have gotten the job done with or without Jillian.

I don't disagree with that.

BUT : If Jillian hadn't been there, the Archons, Jillian's group, etc. would have been with Webinar. They wouldn't have gone near the lake. They would have stayed near the Siege columns.

Vinny had bats, yes. But Vinny wasn't randomly sending them out, looking for that stack. Vinny was giving Ansom "The Flight" and "The Stand" plans. Yes, he had sent one to the hex they thought they were in, Ansom decided it was Foolamancy, and they charged in. There was no sign whatsoever they were even considering sending more bats. They didn't know about the lake. It was a non-issue.

And as for more Archons : I really doubt that. If hiring more Archons was easy and viable, Vinny would have had a Plan C : "Hire more Archons - enough to protect our stack."

So where are you going with this?

My point was I believe they would have been just fine without Jillian there.

Vinny gave Ansom The Flight and The Stand plans, and Ansom chose to scout instead. I'm saying that I believe Ansom would have scouted regardless of whether or not Jillian was there. And scouting means scouting, it doesn't mean 'Hey Webinar, I'm going to tell you to scout but you should completely ignore me and stay by the siege mmkay?'.

I believe Ansom would have made the same decision. There are a lot of variables in the process after that. But they knew where to scout and had the forces to do it, so I think they would have been fine. We can't be SURE what would have happened, but my point is they had a good chance of being just fine without Jillian.

And hiring Archons did seem pretty trivial to me. Ansom did so when he needed to later on when he got into trouble with no problem whatsoever. They were in the area, they could've been hired. Whether or not Ansom would have thought of it without Vinny's help, or whether he would have wanted to agree to Charle's terms at that point is a different matter.

My point was I believe they would have been just fine without Jillian there.

Vinny gave Ansom The Flight and The Stand plans, and Ansom chose to scout instead. I'm saying that I believe Ansom would have scouted regardless of whether or not Jillian was there. And scouting means scouting, it doesn't mean 'Hey Webinar, I'm going to tell you to scout but you should completely ignore me and stay by the siege mmkay?'.

I believe Ansom would have made the same decision. There are a lot of variables in the process after that. But they knew where to scout and had the forces to do it, so I think they would have been fine. We can't be SURE what would have happened, but my point is they had a good chance of being just fine without Jillian.

And hiring Archons did seem pretty trivial to me. Ansom did so when he needed to later on when he got into trouble with no problem whatsoever. They were in the area, they could've been hired. Whether or not Ansom would have thought of it without Vinny's help, or whether he would have wanted to agree to Charle's terms at that point is a different matter.

Ah, now I understand. Okay - that's valid.

So you think he was attempting to order Webinar to scout when he found out Jillian had ditched him?

And yes : Later he did hire more Archons. But they were right there positioned above the city. We can't assume they were there the whole time. Why the heck did he only get three to begin with, if he could have easily gotten far more? I speculate those three may have been the only ones immediately available. (You remember much later we found out that Charlie spreads his forces wide, monitoring situations and ready to hire out.)

And yes : Later he did hire more Archons. But they were right there positioned above the city. We can't assume they were there the whole time. Why the heck did he only get three to begin with, if he could have easily gotten far more?

The answer to that question is easy, I think. Price. He would have hired the minimum he needed, since Charlie probably charges a lot.

And yes : Later he did hire more Archons. But they were right there positioned above the city. We can't assume they were there the whole time. Why the heck did he only get three to begin with, if he could have easily gotten far more?

The answer to that question is easy, I think. Price. He would have hired the minimum he needed, since Charlie probably charges a lot.

Sure, but it seems to easy a solution for me. "Ansom doesn't know where the Dwagons are. Well, he'll just hire more Archons..." I dunno if that works for me.

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